MENA Region and Diaspora Najwa Adra, Nadje Al-Ali, Sana Farhat, Danièle Joly, Pénélope Larzillière, Nicola Pratt N°143 | March 2020

Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora Najwa Adra, Nadje Al-Ali, Sana Farhat, Danièle Joly, Pénélope Larzillière, Nicola Pratt N°143 | march 2020

This report presents a gendered approach to understanding violence and ways of exiting violence. It emphasises the importance of studying violence in the private and public spheres, as well as gender-based violence wherever it may occur. These different types of violence are linked by the thread of gender and can be analysed under the concept of the ‘continuum of violence’. A gendered approach also emphasises the need to address social injustice and structural inequalities all round: ending gender-based violence, guaranteeing women’s equal access to resources and addressing all forms of inequalities, oppressions and exploitation. This report highlights examples where women have been active in contributing to ending violence and injustice, as social actors in their own right, in the region, locally, nationally and internationally.

Working Papers Series

Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora

Najwa Adra, Nadje Al-Ali, Sana Farhat, Danièle Joly, Pénélope Larzillière, Nicola Pratt March 2020

The authors Najwa Adra is a cultural anthropologist with over 30 years of academic field research and experience in international development. Her doctoral dissertation, Qabyala: The Tribal Concept in Yemen’s Central Highlands, examined the emic bases of tribal organization and identity in Yemen. In development, she has worked on diverse projects including women’s roles in agriculture, adult literacy, reproductive health, linkages between informal and formal legal systems, and intangible heritage. She is currently affiliated with the School of Social Science, Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey and is finalizing her book, Tribal Dynamics and Nation Building in Yemen. Nadje Al-Ali is Robert Family Professor of International Studies and Professor of Anthropology and Middle East Studies at Brown University. Her main research interests revolve around feminist activism and gendered mobilization, mainly with reference to Iraq, Egypt, Lebanon, Turkey and the Kurdish political movement. Her publications include What kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq (2009, University of California Press, co-authored with Nicola Pratt); Women and War in the Middle East: Transnational Perspectives (Zed Books, 2009, co-edited with Nicola Pratt); Iraqi Women: Untold Stories from 1948 to the Present (2007, Zed Books), and Gender, Governance & Islam (University of Edinburgh Press, 2019, (coedited with Deniz Kandiyoti and Kathryn Spellman Poots)). Sana Farhat est journaliste, enseignante du second degré et doctorante en sociologie rattachée au Centre d’Études des Sciences sociales du Religieux : Césor. Ses sujets de travail sont axés sur les questions des Femmes en Tunisie et la mobilisation dans la lutte contre la violence et l’extrémisme violent. Danièle Joly est Professeure Emérite au Département de Sociologie à l’université de Warwick et chercheure associée au Collège d’études mondiales (MSH-Paris). Elle a dirigé plusieurs programmes de recherche internationaux. Ses recherches ont donné lieu à de nombreuses publications sur les musulmans en Europe, les questions d’intégration, les réfugiés et la politique d’asile en Europe, et sur les femmes de pays à majorité musulmane en Europe et les femmes au Kurdistan d’Irak. Son livre Muslim women and Power (Palgrave macMillan), co-auteure Khursheed Wadia, a gagné le prix WJM Mackenzie, du meilleur livre de l’année en sciences politiques 2017-2018. Publié en français sous le titre, La participation civique et politique des femmes de culture musulmane (PUL). Pénélope Larzillière is a social scientist, research fellow at the Institute for Research on Deve- lopment (CEPED-Université Paris Descartes/IRD). Her research focuses thematically on political commitment and activism, including extreme forms, and the circulation of narratives and ideologies. She also works on protest art, and currently leads a research program on circulations and art activism. Her books include Activism in Jordan (Zed Books, 2016) and To Be Young in Palestine (Balland, 2004). She has also co-edited the journal issues “Révolutions, contestations, indignations” (Socio, 2013), “Faut-il désoccidentaliser l’humanitaire” (Humanitaire, 2010) and “Musulmanes engagées. Expériences, assignations, mobilisations” (Socio, 2018). She sits on the steering committee of the Institut d'études de l'Islam et des sociétés du monde musulman (IISMM-EHESS).

Nicola Pratt is Reader in the Politics and International Studies Department, University of Warwick, UK. She teaches and researches on the international politics of the Middle East, with a particular interest in feminist approaches as well as ‘politics from below.’ She has written and co-edited a number of books on women, gender and the Middle East, including, What Kind of Liberation? Women and the Occupation of Iraq (with Nadje Al-Ali). Her forthcoming book is entitled, Embodying Geopolitics: Generations of Women’s Activism in Egypt, Jordan and Leba- non. She is also Vice President of the British Society for Middle Eastern Studies. Le texte Les auteures sont membres du groupe de travail « Femmes et violence, une approche genrée : Afrique du Nord, Moyen Orient et diaspora » du Panel International sur la Sortie de la Violence (IPEV) coordonné par la Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme (FMSH). Citing this document Najwa Adra, Nadje Al-Ali, Sana Farhat, Danièle Joly, Pénélope Larzillière, Nicola Pratt, Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora, FMSH-WP-2020-143, march 2020.

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Abstract This report presents a gendered approach to understanding violence and ways of exiting violence. It emphasises the importance of studying violence in the private and public spheres, as well as gender-based violence wherever it may occur. These different types of violence are linked by the thread of gender and can be analysed under the concept of the ‘continuum of violence’. A gendered approach also emphasises the need to address social injustice and structural inequalities all round: ending gender-based violence, guaranteeing women’s equal access to resources and addressing all forms of inequalities, oppressions and exploitation. This report highlights examples where women have been active in contributing to ending violence and injustice, as social actors in their own right, in the region, locally, nationally and internationally. Keywords Exiting violence, gendered approach, social actors, MENA region

Violence et sortir de la violence une approche genrée : Afrique du Nord, Moyen Orient et diaspora Résumé Ce rapport propose une perspective genrée pour comprendre la violence et comment en sortir. Il souligne l’importance d’une étude incluant à la fois la sphère privée et publique, ainsi que la violence genrée où qu’elle se produise. Ces différents types de violence sont liés à travers le prisme du genre et leur analyse fait appel au concept de continuum de violence. Une approche genrée insiste aussi sur la nécessité de répondre à l’injustice sociale et aux inégalités structurelles en général : mettre fin à la violence genrée, garantir un accès égal des femmes aux ressources et lutter contre toutes les formes d’inégalité, d’oppression et d’exploitation. Ce rapport met en lumière des exemples de femmes qui sont des actrices sociales de plein droit et se sont activement engagées pour éliminer la violence et l’injustice au niveau régional, local, national et international. Mots-clefs Sortir de la violence, approche genrée, actrices sociales, Afrique du Nord et Moyen Orient

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 5/36 Summary Introduction: Gendered Approaches to Violence 6 Women and violence 7 Different types of violence involving women 8 Hegemonic narratives of ‘otherness’ 10 Case Study 1 – The impact of external interventions on local violence within Yemen 11 Case Study 2 – The Turkish-Kurdish conflict: Intersections of state-based and patriarchal violence 12 Women’s activism and social justice, beyond the binary of agency/ victimhood 14 Women as social actors, a gendered approach to civic and political commitment 14 Gender and Nationalism 15 New forms of feminist engagement 16 Case study 3 – Activism of Tunisian women against violence 16 Case study 4 – Yemeni women and the Arab spring 18

Case study 5 – Egyptian women’s mobilisation against violence 19 Case study 6 – Iraqi women’s rights activists at the forefront of the struggle against sectarianism & authoritarianism 20 Case study 7 – Turkish and Kurdish feminist activism against patriarchal and state violence 21 Case study 8 – The Palestinian women’s movement: struggling on two fronts 21

Case study 9 – Female suicide bombers in Palestine and Iraq. 22 Women in diasporic communities in non-Muslim majority countries 23

Case study 10 – Negotiations in the family/community in the diaspora in Britain 24 Case study 11 – Mobilisation of women from Muslim communities in the UK and in France 25 Transnational perspectives 26 Transnational women’s activism to end violence 26 Activism and international law: United Nations Security Council resolutions 27 Women in Muslim majority countries 28 Diasporic communities: Relationship to Islam and activism 29 Conclusion: Exiting from violence, a holistic gendered approach 30 Bibliography 32

Introduction: Gendered Approaches violence is deeply embedded in gender hie- to Violence rarchies and dominant gender norms. In particular, we highlight how masculinist domina- his report presents a gendered tion enables the exercise of violence across a approach to understanding violence variety of contexts, which, in turn, reproduces and ways of exiting from violence. and normalises dominant notions of masculi- TGendered approaches to war and vio- nity as associated with violence. Meanwhile, lence conceptualise and understand these non-violence is associated with women and phenomena in a distinct way. Firstly, gende- stigmatised as weakness and passivity, both red approaches emphasise the importance socially and also in international politics. of studying violence not only in the public As a result of gender hierarchies and gende- sphere but also in the private sphere and red divisions of labour, women and men expe- understanding the ways they are linked1. rience violence in different ways. For instance, Secondly, gendered approaches highlight the women (and children) make up the majority differential impacts of violence on women of refugees fleeing conflict and violence while and men because of dominant gender rela- men make up the majority of fighters. Fur- tions, norms and identities; and, thirdly, gen- thermore, because women are generally dee- dered approaches conceptualise peace as med responsible for social reproduction wit- rooted in a social justice perspective, inclu- hin the family, women are disproportionately ding gender justice, and addressing structu- affected by shortages in food, medicine and ral inequalities. other essential items and the augmented A key overarching concept in a gendered deterioration of public services that often approach to violence is that of the ‘conti- accompany violent conflict. That is not to nuum of violence’, which understands vio- say that all victims are women (and children) lence in the public sphere (such as conflict and all fighters are men. However, dominant between armed groups and political vio- gender norms may mean that women who do lence), violence in the private sphere (domes- participate as fighters are stigmatised and/ tic violence and other forms of violence or are obliged to masculinise their behaviour against women) as well as gender-based vio- in order to be accepted. Equally, men who lence wherever it may occur (in the home, refuse to fight are stigmatised and may be on the street, in the workplace and in public targeted for violent punishment. institutions), as linked through the thread of In discussing the process of exiting from gender. By this we mean that the exercise of violence, a gendered approach proposes a comprehensive vision of peace compared to 1. While we use the terms of public and private spheres, some mainstream approaches, which gene- this report recognises that the notion of the public versus the private sphere is socially constructed and the boundary rally focus merely on the cessation of armed between them is fluid and changeable over time and space. violence. In this respect, another important Adra contends that the public-private binary as understood concept is that of intersectionality, which is in Europe and the United States does not apply to MENA, and that its use serves to homogenise gender relations in based on the recognition that gender ine- MENA. She argues that this binary is based on a Euro-cen- quality is intertwined with, and cannot be tric division in which the ‘public sphere’ is a male dominated separated from, other forms of social, poli- space where political discourse occurs and important decisions are made, while the ‘private sphere’ is the domain of tical and economic inequalities pertaining to women. According to her, in much of MENA, in contrast, class, ethnicity, religion, sexuality and gene- especially in the Arab Region, public and private are blurred, ration among other axes of social difference. with considerable flexibility afforded to women and men on negotiating space and time. Political and policy discus- A gendered approach to exiting from violence sions often occur in homes which act as both public and emphasises the need to address other forms private spaces according to context and event. These spaces of inequalities, oppressions and exploitation are largely controlled by women who dispense hospitality. Women either participate in, or listen to, these discussions, based on class, race/ethnicity and/or religion and their opinions are often consulted. Women and men as well as guaranteeing human rights for all, render ‘public’ space ‘private’ and vice-versa by manipulating regardless of gender, sexual orientation, race, their clothing. These contrasts in symbolic space have gen- nationality, religion and class. This implies der implications that need to be recognised As Suad Joseph defends, the public/private divide is a ‘purposeful fiction’ that the implementation of positive measures to is integral to state building (1997: 73).

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 7/36 bring about social justice, including gen- to conceptualise MENA beyond its geogra- der justice, ending gender-based violence, phical boundaries. Within Europe, the recent removing all structural inequalities and gua- ‘refugee crisis’ but also more long-standing ranteeing women equal access to resources. politics of immigration as well as growing In this respect, the report highlights the fears of radicalisation and Islamophobia have important work of women in ending violence led to the securitisation and criminalisation through their activism against different forms of immigrant communities of MENA back- of injustice and inequalities underpinning ground. Thus, strategies for exiting from vio- violence, including inter alia the struggle lence in MENA must also include strategies against gender inequality. for exiting from violence exercised against and within diasporic communities. Nevertheless, it is equally important not to romanticise women’s agency nor to essentia- Women and violence lise women as ‘peace loving’. Women have participated in violence, sometimes as part Conceptualising violence from a gende- of armed struggles against oppression but red perspective rests on the recognition of also as members of dominant groups seeking a ‘continuum of violence’, experienced by to repress and exploit other groups, whether women through the thread of gender that based on class, race, ethnicity or religion. includes overt armed conflict, warfare, struc- Overall, this report stresses the importance tural violence (linked to differential access to of going beyond binaries of victim/perpetra- resources and power), domestic violence as tor, active/passive and/or agency/victimhood well as various forms of sexualised violence when discussing women (and men) and their (Cockburn 2001:13–29). Moreover, it is experiences of violence and contributions important to take note that gendered violence towards exiting violence. The report also exists during periods of overt warfare and challenges essentialist and deterministic conflict as well as in post-conflict contexts 2 approaches to understanding the causes of and during peace times . Patriarchal gen- violence, such as structuralist explanations der norms and relations in conjunction with for violence that focus solely on the impact heteronormativity are central to the creation, of colonial, imperialist and global neoliberal reproduction and reinforcement of authorita- interventions or on culturalist/religious expla- rian hierarchies of power and the privileging nations for gender-based violence. While of militarised masculinities, which are pre- cultural norms and customs and specific reli- valent both in war and peace times. gious prescriptions and interpretations can- With respect to terminology, gendered or not be altogether dismissed as contributing gender-based violence (GBV) refers to vio- to violence, it is important to recognise that lence against a person based on the norma- neither culture nor religion are static but are tive roles linked to each gender contributing socially constructed and contingent on speci- to and reproducing unequal power relations fic historical, political and economic contexts in a given society. GBV, often used interchan- and developments, nationally, regionally and geably with violence against women (VAW) internationally. Meanwhile, various forms leads to psychological, economic, physical or of violence may be related to deprivation, sexual harm. However, men can also be vic- poverty, and insecurity caused by imperialism tims of gender-based violence, often linked to and neo-colonialism, these processes being their non-normative masculinity and/or sexua- mediated by socio-cultural and (geo-) politi- lity. Sexual violence is one specific conti- cal contexts. nuum of gender-based violence that refers to Finally, this chapter takes a transnational a wide range of threats, behaviours and acts approach to gendered violence in relation to that are sexual or sexualised, unwanted and the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). committed without consent, such as sexual Given the long history of political entangle- harassment which has become prevalent in ments, large-scale labour and forced migration and significant social and economic ties 2. This does not detract from the fact that gendered violence tends to take on specific forms with respect to their charac- between MENA and Europe, it is important teristics and degree during periods of extreme generalised violence.

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 8/36 many countries in the region. Sexual violence the targeting of women’s dress codes, their might exist on an individual level but is often mobility, their sexuality, their participation in used more systematically to control, domi- protests and political action as routine mani- nate and reinforce gender-based oppression festations of patriarchy and misogyny. In her and heteronormativity. view, patriarchy no longer functions ‘as usual’ and currently requires a higher level of coer- Gender, crucially, does not only refer to cion together with the deployment of more women and the instrumentalisation and varied ideological state apparatuses to ensure control of women’s bodies and sexualities, its reproduction. Therefore, the high levels of but also to men, hegemonic forms of mas- violence against women since 2011 are evi- culinities and their bodies and sexualities. dence of attempts to reinstate a patriarchy However, as several feminist scholars have that some men feel is under threat. Never- demonstrated cross-culturally (Yuval Davis theless, many men have started to grasp the 1997) and more specifically in the context connections between patriarchy and politi- of the Middle East (Al-Ali & Pratt 2016) cal authoritarianism, often mediated through women’s behaviour and appearance is consi- militarism and gender-based violence. dered to be symbolic of the national, the religious and the ethnic community and there- In the context of rapid political transforma- fore, women are often the target of legal or tions and struggles over power and authority informal mechanisms or even physical vio- since late 2010, women’s and men’s bodies lence with the aim of imposing dress codes, and sexualities have emerged as key sites of controlling sexual behaviour, and limiting contestation and control in the region. Prior to access to the public sphere, all in the name that, there has been a long history of struggles of “restoring authentic values” but operating and campaigns in relation to the personal sta- to demarcate boundaries of ‘us versus them’ tus code governing marriage, divorce, child with the aim of consolidating the authority custody and inheritance, and attempts to of specific political actors or ‘breaking’ the address sensitive subjects, such as domestic opposition (Al-Ali & Pratt 2016: 130). This violence, sexual harassment, honour-based trend is noticeable in the context of ethnic crimes and killings, as well as reproductive and sectarian conflicts in which communities rights. Significantly, in recent years mobilisa- instrumentalise women’s bodies and women’s tion and activism around bodily integrity have sexualities as a way to demarcate boundaries been linked to the acknowledgement that and reify differences. bodies are at the core of families, economies, and social and political institutions, shaping Critical approaches have demonstrated states, civil society, and citizenship. that it is necessary to historicise violence, avoid essentialising culture and religion and Different types of violence involving women apply a political economy and intersectional Different forms of violence at any given his- approach to violence, recognising the ways torical time impact on women’s lives in the that multiple local, national, regional and MENA region, as elsewhere in the world. international factors linked to the state, eco- The above-mentioned ‘continuum of vio- nomic conditions (such as poverty and exclu- lence’ requires a holistic approach not only sion), political developments and contesta- in terms of identifying the range and variety tions over resources and power contribute to of violence but also its different sources and the relative levels of gender-based violence at perpetrators. A complex picture emerges: on any given historical moment (Al-Ali 2016, Al- a national level, state and non-state actors, Ali & Pratt 2009, Al-Ali and Pratt 2016, Kan- including the military, the police, militia, diyoti 2013). However, it is equally important armed gangs, Islamist organisations, tribes, to take into account references to colonial the general public, colleagues, family and legacies and imperialist interventions on friends are all perpetrators of various forms the one hand and alongside local patriar- of violence experienced by women (and men) chal power, on the other hand (Al-Ali 2016). in the region. Moreover, conflicts and wars Moreover, Deniz Kandiyoti (2013) has poin- contribute to the emergence of regional and ted out that we cannot simply explain away international perpetrators, especially invading

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 9/36 and occupying armies/soldiers, mercenaries, they be ethnic, religious or political because security personnel, and Islamist militants. women are generally seen as both the biological and symbolical markers and reproducers Historically, the state has been identified of communities. It is important to mention as one central perpetrator of violence in the here that rape is also used as a weapon of war MENA region. Authoritarian states and dicta- against men as experienced by Iraqi prisoners torships have used force, such as arrests, tor- of war following the invasion of Iraq and oppo- ture and executions, to repress political opponents to the regime in Iraq, Syria, Egypt and sition and dissent. This has often comprised Turkey; and there have been accounts of rape sexual violence against women as a way to of Palestinian political prisoners in Israeli pri- punish dissent and deter their involvement in sons. The rape of men often constitutes an political opposition. The state has been iden- even more suppressed issue and source of tified as a prime perpetrator of violence in the shame and has thus remained underreported context of war and conflict, as we have seen and even silenced. most recently in Syria and Iraq. Non-state actors have also become major sources of vio- An array of gender-based and sexual violence lence in the MENA region. The most visible might be classified as a social form of vio- perpetrators of particularly gender-based lence, rooted in communal, religious and violence are currently the so-called Islamic family contexts and prevailing gender norms. State (IS) and other Islamist militant groups, These range from early and forced marriages, prominent in Syria, Iraq and Libya. While the honour-based crimes and killings to Female scale and level of violence perpetrated by IS Genital Mutilation (FGM). Nevertheless, it is are unprecedented, the violence committed important to recognise that neither culture by IS does not emerge in a vacuum, given the nor religion are static nor can be analysed in long history of gender-based violence perpe- an essentialised manner. Instead, they are trated by Islamist groups. Meanwhile, militia, contingent on the specific historical and poli- armed and criminal gangs are also rampant tical economic contexts and developments, and responsible for various forms of gender- nationally, regionally and internationally. based and sexual violence, including forced Moreover, all of these forms of violence are in prostitution, trafficking, harassment and various ways related to deprivation, poverty, rape. and insecurity. Rape, one of the most extreme forms of In recent years, verbal and physical harass- gender-based violence, is perpetrated both at ment has become a much-debated topic in the level of state and non-state actors during academic, activist and media circles. Indeed, war and conflict, and during periods of rela- sexual harassment has increasingly become tive peace. This form of gender-based vio- a political tool and counter-revolutionary lence not only is used to violate and harm measure by authoritarian governments to individual women but also to humiliate and suppress dissent and control its populations annihilate entire communities as a systema- through the police and military and/or via tic and collective weapon of war. One can cite paid thugs as illustrated in Egypt currently. the cases of Bosnian Muslim women collec- However, this form of violence has existed tively raped by Serbian troops, Saddam Hus- prior to recent political developments. In sein’s atrocities against Kurds in the 1980s, addition, the street, the work place and the the Turkish state’s repression of Kurds in the home are sites in which women experience 1990s, the rape and torture of Ezidi3 women different forms of harassment other than at the hands of IS. Violating and potentially those orchestrated by the state and related impregnating women (sometimes delibera- political groupings. tely) result in long-term consequences and Underlying these different forms and perpe- often affects entire communities whether trators of violence are structural inequalities, which frequently make women more vulne- 3. Although the term Yezidi is more commonly used in the rable. Economically, the past decades have literature, community activists prefer the Kurmanji term seen an emergence of the ‘feminisation of Ezidi. Ezidis are an ethnically Kurdish religious minority poverty’ in several countries. The transition that originated in Northern Mesopotamia.

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 10/36 from Keynesian to neoliberal economies, cou- the politicisation of gender in the context of pled with an international division of labour colonial relations and, in France today, the that is reliant on cheap female labour, while focus on the hijab and a true ‘politics of the women remain in charge of reproductive work veil’ (Scott 2007, Joly and Wadia 2017). and domestic labour, has affected the MENA These representations pertain to colonial and region as other regions in the world. Privatisa- postcolonial history, and to a neo-orientalist tion and restructuring have in many locations, imaginary. They tend to reify and culturalise most notably in Morocco, Tunisia, and Egypt, gender domination: Muslim women become led to lay-offs that have affected women dis- simultaneously victims in need of liberation proportionately (UNDP, Arab Human Deve- and markers of ‘otherness’, the incarnation of lopment Report 2016). Employed women ‘them’ in the face of an emancipated exem- face similar challenges as elsewhere in the plary ‘us’, as part of the power relations of world: lower wages than men, the double bur- an asymmetrically structured global society. den of employment and domestic work (ibid), In this process, gender domination tends to employment in the informal sector and part- be transferred onto an ‘other’ eschewing gen- time labour which increases their precarious der inequalities in western countries. This is economic positions. This is compounded by naturalised through hegemonic processes, women’s difficult access to resources and disregarding situational heterogeneities in legal rights if they are members of ethnic Muslim-majority countries and diasporas as or religious minorities. Increasingly, popu- well as histories of prevailing gender norms. list as well as institutionalised sectarianism Moreover, the situation of women in Mus- have contributed to gender-based violence lim-majority countries has been used as an as women are perceived to be boundaries of argument to legitimise external interventions. both ethnic and religious communities as wit- For example, ‘the military and humanitarian nessed among Kurds, Berbers, Ezidis, etc. intervention into Afghanistan in 2001 adver- tised “liberating” the women of Afghanis- Furthermore, women are facing a number of tan as one of its key objectives (…)’, thus legal challenges. Historically, one of the most locating women’s struggle for their rights in debated set of laws with gendered impli- Afghanistan within a transnational narrative cations has been the Personal Status Code and ‘a narrative about interventions as neces- which governs marriage, divorce, child cus- sary measures’ (Koloma Beck 2018). tody and inheritance and enshrines unequal gender relations based on a patriarchal bias. These representations affect current western Although laws vary greatly from country to policies on Muslim populations. Nonetheless, country, legal protections against domestic interrogating those stereotypes should not violence are rare, and those that exist often detract from the fact that women face oppres- fail to be applied as social pressures tend to sive situations and combat them in their own result in the protection of men at the expense countries and communities. Indeed, imperia- of justice for women. lism and its impact should not be overplayed or allowed to gloss over national power confi- Hegemonic narratives of ‘otherness’ gurations and forms of oppression. This One form of symbolic violence affecting would risk undermining the work of national women in the MENA region and in the dias- feminist activists. The instrumentalisation of pora has been their representation through struggles for women’s rights within imperia- what can be called an orientalist narrative. list power relations is intricately linked to key Women have been portrayed as the foremost national and local issues in the same way as embodiments of the radical, intrinsic ‘other- perceptions of gender issues and racialisation ness’ of Muslims in the MENA region and intersect. Struggles for women’s rights have in diaspora communities. These representa- often been reinterpreted within the context of tions partly stem from a colonial and post- this power relationship with the West. Lamra- colonial history as testified by the unveiling bet thus refers to a ‘hostage’ problematic ceremony in Algiers in 19584, that marked

per cent female participation in the United States Congress 4. It may be useful to compare these numbers with a mere 18 and 22 per cent in the Parliament of the United Kingdom.

(Lamrabet 2012). Hence, opponents to the whenever they felt insulted or assaulted by struggle for women’s rights have deemed it their husbands or in-laws. In most commu- tantamount to a ‘betrayal’ of their own society nities in Yemen, divorce was not stigmatised. or of their community in minority contexts, as Women’s active roles in the agricultural sub- best proclaimed by Islamist movements who sistence economy provided them with mobi- denounce what they instrumentalise or per- lity and economic decision-making as well as ceive as collusion with imperialist powers. A important voices in community politics and kind of confiscation of struggles for women’s conflict resolution. Mass labour migration rights thus operates in the form of minority/ of men to countries in the Gulf during the majority, or hegemonic relations (Larzillière 1970s and 1980s left most women in total 2018). charge of agriculture and economic decisions (Adra 2013a). Social life in rural communi- Various circumvention strategies have sought ties was not gender segregated, and in most to dissociate the two questions. Some rural areas women and men danced together branches of Islamic feminism have, for at weddings and other celebrations until the example, drawn on the reinterpretation of early parts of this century (Adra 2016). Islam to dismiss gender-based inequalities as custom rather than religious requirements. Several events beginning in the late 1980s In so doing, they circumvent disputes over and continuing to the present have led to ‘authenticity’ versus ‘betrayal’. Sometimes, increasing violence in general, and towards gender differentiation may be reinforced by women in particular – at the personal, com- essentialist forms of feminism, attributing munity and national levels. Increasing econo- to women a specific but positive role. Other mic dependence on imported foods reduced branches of feminism position themselves in dependence on and the value of rural women’s the struggle against authoritarianism within a agricultural work and limited some women’s broad approach akin to the struggle for eman- mobility. The forcible return of nearly a million cipation. This allows them to turn to a glo- Yemeni workers from Gulf countries in 1991 balised public for support, transcending the added serious economic stress to the burgeo- frame of othering and references to intrinsi- ning cash economy. Many returned migrants cally oppressive cultures, thus making a trans- brought with them the strictly patriarchal national theme out of gender inequalities. ideology of the Gulf. Development projects, funded by international and regional donors Case Study 1 – The impact of external inter- largely focused on introducing cash cropping ventions on local violence within Yemen by men. These projects not only contributed This case study presents changes to the secu- to the rapid decline of water tables in Yemen rity of women in tribal Yemen with increasing but also ignored women’s important contri- exposure to, and acceptance of, imported butions to agriculture. Projects directed at notions of hierarchy and women’s subordi- women emphasised sewing and cooking skills nation. Despite the proliferation of arms in despite rural women’s repeated requests for Yemen and an expressed ideology of male agricultural extension and vaccination for prominence, tribal customary law places obs- their livestock (Adra 2013a). tacles to, and severe sanctions against violent During the War on Terror (since 2001) all conflict (Adra 2011; Weir 2007). Disputes at external development funding to Yemen was all levels were historically, and largely conti- redirected to providing arms and support nue to be, resolved through mediation (Adra for a corrupt government. Neoliberal poli- 2011). Yemeni constructions of honour dif- cies increased poverty and exclusion throu- fer from those reported in Mediterranean ghout Yemen. Consolidation of land led to societies. Crucial to men’s honour is the pro- illegal land grabs and new exclusive social tection of unarmed populations with strong hierarchies (Carapico 1993; Adra 2006). sanctions against assaulting women. Prior to These changes not only increased poverty but the current conflict, domestic violence was seriously impacted health and education ser- extremely rare, and married women often vices for rural women. Corruption and the co- exercised their culturally accepted rights to optation of powerful tribal leaders threatened leave the marital home to seek mediation

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 12/36 tribal institutions. Tribal feuding increased, ignored, with a reported 63% increase in and time-honoured laws, such as those domestic violence and incidents of rape. against harming women or fighting in urban Severe poverty and a humanitarian crisis contexts, were increasingly breached. have increased child marriage and trafficking of women and children. Kidnapping and The penetration of an imported politicised the forced militarisation of youth will leave Islam through government ministries and long-lasting impacts on the construction of the media (Adra 1996, 2016) had signifi- self - manhood and womanhood – as well as cant negative impacts on women. Because on traditions of mediation and consensus for- the externally-funded Islah party controlled mation. All of the factions involved in violent the Ministry of Education and curricula, the combat in Yemen are pressuring women to significant increase in school attendance for remain in seclusion, either to protect them girls and boys did not necessarily translate from harm or, equally, to restrain the work of into quality education or greater empower- activists (Heinze and Baabbad 2017). Des- ment for the graduates. Textbooks repeatedly pite the impacts of warfare, however, atti- asserted women’s subordinate position in the tudes against harming women are so entren- home, criticised women’s traditional work ched that even al-Qaeda has refrained from in the fields, traditions of women’s public directly harming women in the communities poetic expression and their community par- they control, presumably because they fear ticipation. Many young secondary school local reprisal. graduates, women and men, now consider veiling, seclusion and wifely subservience Case Study 2 – The Turkish-Kurdish conflict: ‘modern’ in contrast to ‘traditional’ women’s Intersections of state-based and patriarchal mobility and participation. The new conser- violence vative interpretations of Islam declare men’s Historically, Kurdish women have been mar- ultimate authority at home, encourage hus- ginalised and side-lined as ethnic minori- bands to ‘discipline’ recalcitrant wives and ties in the context of the Turkish Republic’s severely criticise customs that allow women nationalist ideology. Different waves of state to leave the matrimonial home to seek media- violence have affected women civilians living tion. Since the early 2000s, dancing, song in rural and urban communities, as well as and mixed wedding parties have been cur- female political activists and militants belon- tailed or stopped in most villages. Most dis- ging to the Kurdish political movement. The turbing is the new violence against children, Turkish government’s wave of attacks on Kur- who are now regularly hit with sticks at school dish towns needs to be understood in rela- and slapped by their parents, leading to an tion to the establishment of militant resis- unprecedented normalisation of violence, tance (Kurdistan Workers Party or PKK), and whereas during the 1970s and 1980s, it was the growing strength of the Kurdish poli- considered a serious breach to strike a child. tical movement. The 1990s were particu- Many older rural women and men disapprove larly bloody with more than 3,000 Kurdish of such changes and complain that they do villages forcibly evacuated and more than 3 not reflect Islam, but illiteracy limits their million Kurds displaced. A counterinsurgency capacity to fight back (Adra 2016 and field campaign involved thousands of extra-juridi- notes 1978-79, 1983-86, 2001-05). cal killings (Bozarslan 2001; Tezcur 2013). Beginning in the 1990s, uneven distribution During this period many Kurdish activists of resources and government manipulation (women and men) were imprisoned and tor- have led to increased feuding and internal tured in Turkey’s notorious prisons (Zeydan- armed warfare. The current conflict, which lioglu 2009). involves international actors, each with its After a period of relative peace, following own geopolitical and geoeconomic agenda high levels of state induced violence in the as well as multiple parties with diverse grie- 1980s and 1990s, violence has escala- vances, has had disastrous impacts on com- ted since 2015. In the wake of elections in munities, especially women and children. which the Erdogan-led government failed to Historic protections of women are routinely achieve an absolute majority, with significant

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 13/36 gains for the progressive Kurdish-led People’s parties. Moving beyond sheer token inclu- Democratic Party (HDP), a severe crack down sion of female MPs and political leaders, the on Kurdish towns in communities in south- Kurdish political movement now systema- eastern Turkey involved unprecedented levels tically includes women at all levels of deci- of violence, killings and arrests. The violent sion-making with a system of co-chairing, state repression intensified following the not only involving a man and a woman but failed coup against the government in July also people of ethnic minority background 2016, escalating to a level beyond the worst and younger people. Moreover, education violence of the 1990s. and consciousness-raising sessions and programmes are addressing women as well as As Al-Ali and Tas (2017) demonstrate, Kur- men. dish women activists experience and conceptualise conflict and violence in intersec- Kurdish women activists stress that peace tional ways. They refer to patriarchal male will mean much more than cessation of bias and conservative gender norms within armed conflict and advocate that the struggle the Kurdish political movement as another against gender-based discrimination and significant source of conflict and violence. forms of gender-based violence, as key to Moreover, they see patriarchal control as their strategy, is at the heart of sustainable equally dangerous and debilitating as state- peace. A political and legal Kurdish move- induced violence. Honour-based crimes and ment has increasingly emerged over the past killings are among the most extreme forms years in parallel to the armed movement lin- of gender-based violence Kurdish women are ked to the PKK. Many women in the political experiencing within their own communities. movement see their main means of struggle Many Kurdish women activists perceive the as political and non-violent. At the same control of women’s sexuality, dress codes and time, there is a widespread recognition that mobility as another form of gender-based armed struggle is still necessary in a context violence. where the state violently cracks down on Kur- dish towns and civilians, and also arrests and Kurdish women’s rights activists and mili- marginalises elected Kurdish politicians and tants involved in both the political and armed representatives. movement stress the importance of gender- based equality and justice for their political Moreover, the threat of Islamist militancy, struggle. For them, challenging patriarchy especially the recent waves of brutality in the within the Kurdish movement and within Kur- region at the hands of the so-called Islamic dish communities is as important as challen- State, has also mobilised Kurdish women. ging the Turkish state. For Kurdish women, Many Kurdish women linked to the PKK, from exiting from violence at all levels is clearly Turkey (northern Kurdistan) and other Kur- linked to the struggle for what they call ‘radi- dish regions, have joined the armed struggle cal democracy’ with gender-based justice against IS in northern Syria (Rojava). In fact, and equality at its heart. Developments wit- Kurdish women fighters were at the forefront hin the Kurdish women’s movement need to of defending the city of Kobanî (Ayn al-Arab) be contextualised within a wider shift from as well as liberating Raqqa from IS militants. armed struggle for an independent Kurdish The case of Kurdish women militants illus- state, the main aim of the PKK when it was trates the fact that it would be too simplistic first founded in the 1980s, to the aim of radi- to conceptualise women simply as peacema- cal democracy and equal citizenship rights kers and proponents of non-violent tactics. for Kurds within the boundaries of existing Furthermore, the case of Kurdish women nation states. fighting IS forces us to acknowledge that in certain contexts violent armed struggle and Over the past decade, Kurdish women acti- conflict might be the only strategy for a long- vists linked to the wider Kurdish political term vision of peace. movement in Turkey have been involved in the attempt to transform decision-making processes and the content of politics within that movement and Kurdish-led political

Women’s activism and social act as subjects and hence not entirely worthy justice, beyond the binary of agency/ of the many rights accruing from social, economic and political participation. Feminist victimhood scholars have vigorously challenged these Women’s activism in MENA is varied and wide- views. First, they have shown up the multiple ranging, both in terms of the causes defended obstacles that stood in the way of women’s and the types of collective action adopted. political participation. They also have put They comprise political struggle, including forward that the classical definition of poli- pro-democracy struggles against occupation tics, that is political parties and electoral and inequality, nationalist women’s rights politics, has excluded other forms of partici- campaigns, welfare and charity initiatives pation which are precisely the ones that tend and environmental campaigns. Women acti- to attract women’s participation: ‘Women vists’ involvement in the recent uprisings was do not participate less than men; instead, notable, as has been their participation in the they participate differently […], more ad hoc occupation of public places in Tunisia, Egypt and unstructured community associations, and Yemen. These activists can be found in voluntary organisations and protests groups’ political parties and trade unions and as can- (Githens et al. 1994:5–26). Women partici- didates for elected positions. But they are pate at grassroots levels in social movements, especially involved in associations and the protest politics, informal community groups voluntary sector. Altogether these civic and and voluntary organisations (Joly and Wadia political commitments are part and parcel of 2018). Indeed, women in and from MENA broad political visions and social projects. have been noted participants in political actions in their neighbourhoods while remai- These different forms of women’s activism ning largely barred from sites of decision- contribute to struggles against injustice and making (Amiraux 2003: 90, Christy 1994; challenge violence, conceptualised here in Allwood and Wadia 2000; Randall (1987). a social continuum. Gendered approaches highlight the ways in which gendered inequa- In addition, women often express their acute lities shape the experience of these activists sense of justice and ethical considerations, and the ways in which perceptions of their which project them into meaningful action. commitments are marked by gendered assi- Against the violence which attacks their phy- gnations and binaries. sical and moral integrity and hinders their capacity of action, women have constituted Women as social actors, a gendered approach themselves as social actors and subjects in to civic and political commitment their own right (Joly and Wadia 2017). As Decision makers and men in positions of we currently see in Syria, Yemen, and Iraq, power tend to assume that women are not women are recurrently the ones who, in times significant actors of public and political life of crisis and war, have kept communities and are little interested in politics: ‘they alive and children fed through concrete acts think that politics is mainly a man’s thing, of solidarity at the ground level. Moreover, because everything encourages them to think their engagement has gone far beyond gen- this: tradition, family life, education, reli- der issues to fight for social justice against all gion, literature’ (Duverger cited in Allwood forms of inequality and Wadia 2000: 140). Women in MENA and However, the realm of activism is fraught with Muslim or Middle Eastern women of migrant the same gender-based inequalities that per- background in diasporas in Europe and North vade society (something not unique to MENA America have been portrayed through the countries) (Larzillière 2018). In western as same lens. Mainstream media have fed a in Muslim majority countries, MENA women public imaginary of those women as victims of represent the ‘particular’ in relation to an domination and violence, thus consolidating apparently neutral ‘universal’ while the lat- prejudices which depict them as submissive, ter is traversed with categories of differentia- subjugated, apathetic or uninformed beings, tion. As a matter of fact, the ‘neutral’ indi- confined to the home and family. The impli- vidual embodying these ‘abstract universal cation is that they are unable or unwilling to

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 15/36 principles’ proves rather masculine (Scott twentieth century and gained ground the- 2005) and one might add, within a patriar- reafter. Women contributed to these move- chal definition of masculinity. Gender ine- ments mainly through women’s associational qualities also intersect with the impact, in and philanthropic work – providing services western countries of the ‘Arab’ or ‘Muslim’ and welfare for the poor and particularly for categories of differentiation (Ajbli 2016). women and girls. At times of national crises, Activists face, side-step or challenge these such as the Egyptian uprising against Bri- questions in various ways. Firstly, having a tish rule in 1919 and the Lebanese pro- lived experience of inequality, domination tests against French rule in 1945, women or violence may foster the decision to take also participated in street protests and other action if a field of opportunities for struggle forms of explicitly political activities, trans- emerges (Larzillière 2004). And the gender- gressing dominant norms concerning female differentiated reception to women’s engage- modesty and propriety. They even took part ment has occasionally been utilised by the in armed resistance against colonial rule, activists. For instance, Sahrawi activists who predominantly in auxiliary roles. During the positioned their engagement as part of a Great Arab uprising of 1936–1939 against national political struggle were perceived in British rule and Zionist colonisation in Pales- the West as ‘mother’ activists, thus gaining tine, the Great Syrian Revolt of 1925–1927 special media coverage and another form of against the French, and the Algerian struggle legitimacy (Allan 2016). for independence, also against the French, women played an important role by smug- Finally, gender inequalities also impact on gling weapons, planting bombs and providing activist organisations, in particular classical food to the fighters. political organisations, where women activists encounter specific difficulties in obtai- Although some feminists view nationalism as ning recognition and accessing leadership an inherently masculinist ideology wherein positions. Among Islamist parties in particu- women are reduced to cultural symbols and lar, those women tend to be separated and biological reproducers of the nation under- oriented towards ‘women issues’ (education, pinning their second-class citizenship, we charity work, etc.) (Larzillière 2016). For posit that a more nuanced approach to natio- example, professional women in Jordan who nalist movements is required. Within natio- run for elections do not attain senior posi- nalist movements, women have emphasised tions; even the presidency of the nurses and the importance of their role alongside men midwives association – whose vast majority in the struggle for national independence are women – is generally held by a man. In and freedom while maintaining their commit- Islamist voluntary organisation meetings in ment to women’s rights and freedoms. Their Jordan, women sit together at the back of experiences in nationalist movements and the room. Such inequality and glass ceilings, male nationalist leaders’ failure to support particularly prevalent in classical political women’s equality have motivated women to parties, are general features in all activism put forward gender specific demands, such involving women. This partly explains women as women’s suffrage, greater political inclu- activists’ more numerous presence in civil sion and family law reforms. Women who society and the voluntary sector (even though experienced human rights violations based gender inequalities persist everywhere) as well on their national belonging and their gender as their search for new forms of engagement. have thus often promoted an intersectional approach that addresses injustices at natio- Gender and Nationalism nal and interpersonal levels. One context in which women’s mobilisa- It is important to draw a distinction between tion and political participation have flou- the nationalism deployed to dominate and rished in MENA is that of nationalist move- exploit other groups/communities on the one ments. Women in MENA have a long history hand, and the nationalism that mobilises of involvement in nationalist movements resistance against exploitation and oppres- against European colonialism that emerged sion on the other hand. We also highlight across the region in the beginning of the

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 16/36 differences between nationalist ideologies women have progressed the promotion of that promote progressive attitudes from those their rights and obtained the promulgation of displaying conservative attitudes towards gen- ‘The Act of Combatting Domestic Violence in der issues. Nationalism has played an impor- Kurdistan Region-Iraq’ (Act No 8 2011) (Al tant role in struggles for self-determination Ali and Pratt 2011, Joly and Bakawan 2016, against colonialism in former European colo- Hardi 2013). In Israel, women are active par- nies as well as in contemporary struggles for ticipants in the peace movement. In Syria, the self-determination of Kurdish and Pales- Kurdish women are committed political par- tinian peoples. Across these contexts, strate- ticipants in the development of a progressive gies of both armed violence and non-violent societal project and have joined the armed resistance have been pursued separately and/ struggle to combat the threat of massacre and or simultaneously. enslavement by IS, several of them occupying high positions of responsibility. This is well New forms of feminist engagement illustrated by the battle of Kobanî in Syria Historically, feminist activism in the region where the leading military commander for the took place along a continuum of initiatives defence of the town was a Kurdish woman. In and organisations closely tied to govern- Tunisia, women have mobilised to change the ments and state structures on the one hand, law on violence against women (Ben Achour and independent activism, often critical 2016). Moreover, many feminist activists of the state’s gender policies on the other. in the region have a transnational feminist Within so-called ‘state feminism’, particu- perspective and struggle against the impact larly in relation to Tunisia, Iraq, Turkey and of globalisation, particularly global capitalist Egypt, feminist activists were often co-opted expansion, neo-liberal economics, imperia- by authoritarian regimes pursuing moderni- lism and neo-colonial power configurations. sing projects that involved women’s educa- More recently, novel forms of feminist enga- tion, labour force participation and increased gement, particularly prevalent among the public presence, as well as formal politi- younger generation of feminist activists and cal participation. The perceived collusion organisations, frequently revolve around body between women’s rights’ proponents and politics and involve innovative forms of orga- authoritarian regimes involved in political nising outside of Non-Governmental Organi- persecution and human rights’ oppression sations (NGO) structures, including online had devastating impacts on feminist claims activism. Young feminist activists engage in and credibility in the region. new alliances with broader political move- Nevertheless, throughout the region and ments, as particularly evident in Morocco, at different historical moments, feminist Iraq, and Egypt. This engagement sometimes activists have also combined opposition to includes greater links between feminist and political authoritarianism and repression LGBTQ activism, particularly noticeable in and the promotion of women’s rights and Turkey, Lebanon, Tunisia and Egypt, while gender-based equality. This engagement has LGBTQ activism remains largely non-existent forced many activists into exile, as in Iraq or underground in other countries, such as and Iran. Currently, feminist activists have Iraq and Yemen. All of these novel forms of been notable for challenging existing forms feminist engagement stress the intersections of governance, especially in terms of their between structural forms of violence, symbo- patriarchal and authoritarian aspects. This is lic violence and body politics, frequently pre- particularly evident in Tunisia, Yemen, Egypt, senting a much more holistic approach and Turkey and Iraq. Much of contemporary femi- strategy to exiting from violence than pre- nist activism takes on board the various ways vious generations of feminists. gender-based inequalities intersect with other structural forms of inequality, such as class Case study 3 – Activism of Tunisian women differences, economic exploitation, discrimi- against violence nation against ethnic minorities and sectaria- Tunisian women have been subjected to nism, as illustrated by women’s rights’ acti- different types of violence despite positive vism in Iraq and Kurdistan. In Kurdistan-Iraq, laws promulgated after independence in

1956, including the Personal Status Law of their rights, judging that the troika, domi- 13 August 1956 that prohibited polygamy. nated by an Islamist party Ennahdha, was Women have been subjected to social and threatening Tunisian women’s achievements. political violence in its different forms, one of Women participated in the ‘departure’ sit-in, them being the diverse forms of repression at which forced the troika to cede power to a the hands of the regime before 2011. Aware technocratic government and compelled the of this situation, activist women have challen- National Constituent Assembly to promulgate ged these forms violence for many decades. a new Constitution in January 2014. As a case in point, Besma Belaid and Mabrouka Against Ben Ali’s violence Brahmi, the wives of Chokri Belaid and Zine El Abidine Ben Ali, president of Tunisia Mohamed Brahmi respectively, denounced from 7 November 1987 to 14 January 2011, terrorism, violence and radicalism. Mabrouka established a police state. Over 110,000 poli- Brahmi contributed to the creation of the cemen were marshalled by Ben Ali to spread Foundation Martyr Mohamed Brahmi, which repression. For two decades, Tunisian women aims to work for human development and activists fought Ben Ali’s political violence promote an agenda of non-violence. Besma through their engagement in associations, Belaid created the Foundation, Chokri Belaid political parties and trade unions, among Against Violence whose mission is to cam- others. Many Tunisian women challenged paign against all forms of violence in Tunisia, and contested violence, repression, censor- create an Observatory of Violence and set up ship and torture. The Tunisian Association of schools, public programs and mechanisms to Democratic Women played a significant role raise awareness against violence in Tunisian in this struggle. Maya Jribi, General Secretary society. of the Progressive Democratic Party, one of The mobilisation of Tunisian women against the most famous opposition parties to Ben violence and extremism continues. By the Ali, maintained a hunger strike for a month end of 2016 and in 2017, women campaig- (20 September 2007 - 20 October 2007) to ned against the return of Tunisian jihadists challenge Ben Ali’s decision to close down from Syria, Iraq and Libya, when the Minister her party’s headquarters. Lawyer Radia Nas- of Interior declared in February 2017, that raoui defied torture in prison. She campaig- 800 Tunisian jihadists should return home ned relentlessly for human rights, especially (5,000 had joined terrorist groups in Syria, denouncing police torture in prison and for Iraq and Libya since 2011). many years used several forms of protest to gain legal recognition for the association she Campaign and strategy on violence against had created to protect victims of this form women of violence. It was only after the 2011 revo- There is statistical evidence that Tunisian lution that the organisation was authorised. women suffer from diverse forms of social vio- Nejiba Hamrouni, who campaigned for the lence. A report of the 2010 National Survey creation of a journalist’s trade union, was pro- revealed that ‘47.6% Tunisian women, aged secuted in 2008 and questioned by the eco- between 18 and 64 declared that they had nomic police intent on dissuading her. being victims of some form of violence during Post Ben Ali mobilisation their life’ (Ben Achour 2016). Moreover, the Centre for Research, Studies, Documenta- Women in Tunisia continued to fight against tion and Information on Women (CREDIF), different types of violence after Ben Ali’s published a study entitled ‘Gender-based vio- departure, 14 January 2011. Feminists lence in the public space in Tunisia’ (2014). mobilised during the period of the troika It showed that ‘53.5% of women involved (2011–2014) to condemn the growth of vio- in this study of 3,873 women declared that lence and terrorism in Tunisia. On 13 August they had suffered some kind of violence in 2013, some 200,000 protesters denounced the public space between 2011 and 2015’ the political murders of Chokri Belaid (6 (Ben Achour 2016: 14). ‘Ninety per cent of February 2013) and Mohamed Brahmi (25 these women have been submitted to sexual July 2013). Women were concerned about violence in public transport, out of which

78% of them experienced physical violence implementation of the law leave much room and 64% psychological violence’ (Ibid). On for improvement. 25 September 2017, the CREDIF launched Case study 4 – Yemeni women and the Arab a campaign in the public transportation sys- spring tem to attract attention to this phenomenon and encourage women to denounce acts of When demonstrations against Yemen’s for- violence in the various means of transport. mer regime first began in January 2011, This campaign encouraged a woman who was observers were surprised to find that these victim of sexual harassment by a man on a were organised and led by women. Nobel lau- train to denounce the perpetrator through reate Tawakkol Karman was only one of many social media. The campaign and her action female leaders and participants (Adra 2016; launched a debate on the media and the Shakir et al. 2015). Yet Yemeni women’s acti- internet. vism has a long history. The first documented example of Yemeni women’s activism in The engagement of feminist associations modern history occurred in Aden when mem- and the formation of the National Strategy to bers of the Aden Women’s Club, not satisfied Fight Violence against Women in 2008 led with the club’s dressmaking, embroidery and to the promulgation on August 2017 of the cooking activities, added to the club’s agenda ‘Organic Law to Eliminate Violence against social and political discussion and advocacy Women’. This law forms part of the global of women’s rights to work. Ironically, this strategy to fight violence against women and move shocked and disturbed British colonia- includes four main components: lists. In 1956 the club’s members and other 1. The production and use of data to monitor women in Aden demonstrated to remove the and evaluate violence against women. hijab and later participated in anti-colonial demonstrations (Al-Ashtal 2012: 209–211; 2. The creation and improvement of various see also Ahmed 1982). In 1961, students well-adapted services to care for women vic- at the British-run secondary school for girls tims of violence. held an eight-month strike which spread 3. A social mobilisation and awareness cam- to other schools in Aden, to demand curri- paign against violence on women with a view cula of the same academic level as the boys’ to changing social mentalities, behaviours schools (Al-Ashtal 2012:213). These student and institutions. demonstrations are believed to have inspired 4. Advocacy designed to reform and apply and accelerated the 1962 revolution in the laws preventing and eradicating violence North against the Imamate (Al-Ashtal citing against women. Al – ’Alis 2005:119, n.57). This strategy was based on a participatory The armed struggle against British colonia- and inclusive model. Many departments lism was actively supported by women in such as the Ministry of Health, the Ministry Aden who organised sit-ins in response to of Women and Family, the Ministry of Edu- British arrests of male nationalist political cation, the Ministry of Religious Affairs have leaders (Al-Ashtal 2012:217). Rural women, been involved in the policy adopted to fight less constrained by urban seclusion and more violence against women. The decades-long accustomed to economic and political parti- engagement of feminists and associations cipation (Adra 2016) took up arms to fight defending the rights of women, including the alongside male combatants. Throughout the Association of Tunisian Women for Research 1950s and 1960s women’s organisations in and Development (AFTURD) and the Tunisian Aden connected and cooperated with regio- Association of Democratic Women (ATFD), nal and international women’s organisations have succeeded in changing the law and (Al-Ashtal 2012:215–216). developing the National Strategy to Fight In the North, during the Imamate, ‘Atiqa Violence against Women after the revolution. al-Shami established Yemen’s first nursing Unfortunately, however, actual practice and school, and organised a demonstration in 1960 demanding women’s rights to education

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 19/36 and work. The Imam’s response was to close political parties. In the 2003 elections, 43% the school (Al-Ashtal 2012:208). During the of women throughout Yemen voted. Despite civil war, 1962–1969, women working at the improved visibility, however, women still do textile factory in Sanaa were trained to use not hold decision making positions in any weapons to defend the factory against a pos- political party. sible takeover, because the men who worked The Arab Spring demonstrations included the in this factory had joined active combat. In largest participation of women in the history of 1965, the Yemeni Women’s Organisation was Yemen. Like men, women lived in tent cities formed in Taiz. It provided classes in literacy in segregated tents. When Islah took charge and health as well as discussion of social of the demonstrations, they also segregated issues. The organisation expanded to Sanaa the demonstrators and selected vociferous where it enjoyed a considerable media pre- women for public beatings. The women took sence through newspapers, radio and tele- them to court and won, but Islah’s message vision programmes. Many of these concer- was clear. Nonetheless, women formed 26 ned health and hygiene. Very popular in the per cent of Yemen’s National Dialogue Confe- 1970s were television shows produced by rence (NDC), four percentage points short women that drew attention to political and of the agreed 30 per cent5. Women chaired social abuses including domestic problems committees and were influential in the NDC. (Adra 1996). Women’s NGOs proliferated As Carapico suggests, the NDC drew on ‘indi- in both North and South Yemen throughout genous precedents and activism’ (2014:47; the 1970s and 1980s. With unification in see also Adra 2016). The NDC proposed a 1990, the major women’s organisations of draft constitution and 30% representation the former People’s Democratic Republic of women at all levels of government. Unfor- of Yemen (PDRY) and North Yemen united tunately, the transitional government, orga- into the Yemeni Women’s Union and reorga- nised according to the UN-brokered Gulf Cor- nised in 2001–2003 to focus on increasing poration Council agreement, ignored most of women’s roles in development, legal protec- NDC’s recommendations. tion, family guidance, health awareness, and women’s economic and political participation Case study 5 – Egyptian women’s mobilisa- (Al-Ashtal 2012:236; interviews with Yemeni tion against violence activists). The topic of violence against women began Although women’s activism continued in to be addressed by Egyptian women activists Yemen, growing conservatism in government in the 1990s as a result of preparations for curtailed many of their gains. In 1990, the the International Conference on Population Islah Party, an unlikely union of Brothe- and Development in Cairo in 1994 and the rhood, Wahhabi and Salafi groups, was for- International Women’s Conference in Beijing med, largely through Saudi funding, in order in 1995 (Al-Ali 2000). Prior to this, the topic to counteract the influence of Yemen’s Socia- was generally suppressed as it was regarded list Party. Islah was active in the 1994 civil as relating to family matters and considered war and received greater representation in a challenge to patriarchal privilege and domi Parliament and the Presidential Council nant religious teachings6. Women activists after the war. Due to the growing influence drew on international women’s rights conven- of the Islah party, PDRY’s progressive family tions and increasing international recognition law was replaced by the 1992 Personal Sta- of violence against women as a human rights tus Code. This was followed by increasingly violation to advocate for legislative reforms regressive amendments in 1997 and 2001. criminalising violence against women. Largely Nevertheless, girls’ school enrolment grew exponentially during this period due to Inter- 5. It may be useful to compare these numbers with a mere 18 per cent female participation in the United States Congress national Non-Governmental Organisations’s and 22 per cent in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. (INGO) interest, and women’s visibility in 6. For example, Nawal El Saadawi’s first book,Al-mar’awa- political parties increased due to Yemen’s l-jins (‘Women and Sex’), which discussed violence against Law of Participation that mandated the women, was banned when it was published in 1972 and El Saadawi was fired from her position in the Ministry of inclusion of women in all legally recognised Health.

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 20/36 as a result of women’s activism, the Egyptian to address, challenge and stop these vari- government criminalised FGM/FGC (Female ous forms of violence. They link the violence Genital Cutting) in 2008. happening in the context of armed conflict with violence happening at home. Particu- After 2011, women’s activism against violence larly noteworthy is the Iraqi Women’s Network greatly increased to include not only women’s which consists of many groups and organisa- NGOs but also more grassroots and ad hoc tions across the country that are involved in mobilisations. This was a direct response to advocacy, campaigning and lobbying around the use of violence, including organised sex- women’s rights and against gender-based ualised violence, against women protesters in violence. Given the failing state, the lack of Tahrir Square (Langohr 2013). As a result of adequate resources and welfare provisions these efforts, sexual harassment and violence and the escalating humanitarian crisis, par- against women have now been incorporated ticularly in relation to Iraq’s large number into the state feminist agenda, sexual haras of Internally Displaced People (IDP), wom- sment was criminalised for the first time by en’s rights organisations have also played legal amendments in June 2014 and a num- an important role in providing services and ber of universities have established anti- addressing humanitarian needs. In fact, most sexual harassment units (Pratt 2015). organisations are involved in welfare, charity As a result of the growing authoritarianism and income-generating projects and services. since 2013, when the Egyptian army ousted Women’s rights activists in Iraq have also the Muslim Brotherhood president Moham- been at the forefront of challenges to both med Morsi and massacred Muslim Brother- authoritarianism and corruption in post- hood supporters, women’s activism has largely invasion Iraq. They have participated in pub- subsided. High profile women’s rights activ- lic demonstrations, sit-ins and other events ists Azza Soliman, Mozn Hassan, together to criticise the ongoing lawlessness, corrup- with other human rights activists, have been tion, authoritarianism and incompetence of subject to harassment by the authorities the Iraqi regime, particularly in relation to the under the guise of stopping foreign funding of prevailing insecurity. Simultaneously, many NGOs. Moreover, women activists have been Iraqi women’s rights activists have been crit- caught in the political polarisation that has ical of the sectarian policies and attitudes of afflicted Egyptian society more broadly. Many Islamist organisations, including the various women’s rights activists have failed to speak elected Shia-dominated governments. Early out and a few have even supported the state on, Iraqi women’s rights activists recognised crackdown on the Muslim Brotherhood, while that their struggle against gender-based vio- also neglecting to address the gender-based lence had to be articulated and fought by violence perpetrated by the security forces challenging sectarian policies which utilise and police against women affiliated with the women’s bodies, mobility and dress codes, Muslim Brotherhood. as well as wider gender and sexual norms, Case study 6 – Iraqi women’s rights activists to demarcate boundaries between ‘us versus at the forefront of the struggle against sectar- them’. Shi’a and Sunni Islamist militia and ianism & authoritarianism politicians have all instrumentalised gen- Set against a background of ongoing conflict, der norms and relations to mobilise support escalating sectarian and criminal violence, and to signal control over communities. They lawlessness and corruption, Iraq has expe- have forced women to wear ‘Islamic dress’, rienced a devastating increase in different tried to limit their ability to move freely and forms of gender-based violence, including monitored their whereabouts and relation- forced marriages, trafficking, forced prosti- ships. While the struggle against sectari- tution, harassment, rape, domestic violence, anism is essential for the struggle against honour-based crimes and killings as well as gender-based violence and forms of discrim- Female Genital Mutilation or Cutting. In this ination, the reverse is also the case: exiting context, Iraqi women’s rights activists have from sectarian violence requires a gendered mobilised across ethnic and religious divides approach and a recognition that contestations around prevailing norms of masculinities and

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 21/36 femininities are essential to combatting sec- Meanwhile, and despite the repressive poli tarian politics and violence. tical context, a growing and strong LGBTQ movement is refusing sexual identity politics. Case study 7 – Turkish and Kurdish femi- Rather, its approach to sexual orientation nist activism against patriarchal and state and gender identity is more intersectional violence and closely aligned with the feminist move- Feminists in Turkey have not only challenged ment in Turkey. In other words, LGBTQ activ- widespread gender-based forms of inequal- ists in Turkey, by and large, seem to reject ity and gender-based violence but have been a liberal rights-based and identity politics at the forefront of challenging and opposing that involves an exclusive focus on their sex- wider political violence, state repression, eth- ualities and gender. The close cooperation nic and religious discrimination and author- between the feminist and LGTBQ movement itarianism. The new generation of Turkish in Turkey have contributed to their signifi- feminists diverges radically from earlier gen- cant role in facing up to the state’s political erations who were often inspired by nation- authoritarianism and diverse forms of state alist Kemalist ideology that often resulted in violence. patronising attitudes towards their Kurdish counterparts. Many Turkish feminists today Case study 8 – The Palestinian women’s are not only critical of the Turkish state and movement: struggling on two fronts Turkish nationalism, but are in solidarity with Palestinian women have a long history of Kurdish women’s rights activists who have activism resisting Israeli violence and dis- experienced different forms of exclusion and possession, within historic Palestine and in state violence for decades. exile. As discussed above, they have partici pated alongside men and within the frame- As discussed earlier, the Kurdish women’s work of the Palestinian national movement. movement, linked to the wider Kurdish polit- In addition, women have established their ical movement associated with the Kurd- own organisations, often focused on provid- istan Workers Party (PKK) in Turkey and ing welfare, social services, relief work and transnationally, is explicitly intersectional community development. Although some in approach. Kurdish women’s rights activ- women have been involved in violent resis ists have defied and struggled against Turk- tance, most have participated in non-violent ish state violence, political authoritarianism forms, such as protests and boycotts. and repression, while also challenging patriarchy and gender-based injustices within Israeli settler colonial dispossession and vio- their own communities and movement. Both lence has had a direct impact on women. As Turkish and Kurdish feminists stress the sig- in other violent conflicts, women are espe- nificance of a ‘continuum of violence’, not cially affected by the destruction of civilian only before, during and after violent conflict, infrastructure, including home demolitions, but also linking the increased militarisation which places additional pressures on them of society, growing political authoritarianism in their roles as carers for the home and and the privileging of militarised masculini- family. The Israeli checkpoint and closure ties, which tend to go hand in hand with con- system and the siege on Gaza further exac- servative gender norms and various forms of erbate these pressures, whilst Israeli laws marginalisation of women. Political author- and regulations governing Palestinian res- itarianism and violent government repres- idence rights preclude a normal family life sion has increased even further following the for many Palestinians (Middle East Monitor failed military coup in July 2016. President 2015). Palestinian women living in refugee Erdogan has instrumentalised the post-coup camps, particularly in Lebanon where Pales- period to push through a presidential political tinians are particularly vulnerable, also face system through a narrowly won referendum, the challenges resulting from poverty, over- eradicated all forms of opposition by detain- crowding and lack of basic services. The dif- ing political activists, MPs and journalists, ficulties faced by Palestinians in the occu- and fired thousands of teachers, academics, pied Palestinian Territory and in exile render lawyers, judges and police. women more exposed to violence perpetrated

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 22/36 by men in their communities and also make world, this is chiefly due to the actions of it more difficult to speak out against this vio- the Nigerian group Wilāyat Gharb Ifrīqīyyah lence for fear of feeding into an Israeli dis- and not to suicide bombings in MENA. The course that characterises Palestinians as framework for action and the issues at stake, ‘backward’ and ‘uncivilised’. Nevertheless, such as they are presented in the testimoni- since the 1990s, coinciding with the signing als of female suicide bombers, or would-be of the Oslo Accords and the establishment bombers, are clearly political (Larzillière of a Palestinian Authority for the first time 2017). Indeed, Palestinian women who have in parts of historic Palestine, Palestinian been incarcerated and charged with planning women’s organisations have also struggled to suicide bombings have voiced their political end violence against women perpetrated by motivations and rejected the notion of a per- Palestinian men. Palestinian feminists gen- sonal crisis or external pressure, which they erally put forward an intersectional concept could have used as ‘justifications’ (Latte of violence, which perceives the violence – Abdallah 2013 : 23). In Palestine, they perpetrated within the home as linked to the stress how women are to become involved violence of the Israeli occupation and dispos- in the struggle8. Gender issues are thus session (Shalhoub-Kevorkian 2009). manifest in this context, which are directly addressed in the women’s statements. Fur- After the signing of the Oslo Accords, many thermore, women who have dropped out of Palestinian women’s organisations parti planned bombings have also discussed how cipated in people-to-people dialogues with hard it is within the organisations to gain the Israeli women’s organisations as part of the same levels of respect as men for their polit- wider peace process. These were fraught ical engagement. Some even cite this as a with tension as Palestinian women wished reason for not having gone through with the to address not only women’s rights but also act9. Several Palestinian women claim to have the Israeli occupation and Israeli violations, been turned away by one group and gone to whereas Israeli women only wanted to focus contact another one. The organisations them- on women’s rights and shared experiences of selves have drawn specific lines addressing patriarchy rather than ‘political issues’ (Rich- the engagement of women and men in bomb- ter-Devroe 2009; Sharoni 1995). In the con- ings. Hamas, for instance, has changed its text of the Second Intifada and the massive position: after initially ruling out women’s par- violence perpetrated by Israel against Pal- ticipation, it began sending them into action estinian civilians, Palestinian civil society in 2004, possibly because women were sub- announced an end to people-to-people dia- ject to less stringent controls at checkpoints. logues and other normalisation initiatives. This appears to have been a decisive factor Many Palestinian women activists and wom- in Iraq (Speckhard 2009). While women’s en’s organisations, including the General suicide bombings remain highly marginal, Union of Palestinian Women, support the they do attract particular media attention Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions move- (Campana 2014), most comments focussing ment as a means of pressuring Israel to end on the suicide bombers’ gender, which com- apartheid rule and its ongoing dispossession pletely alters popular perceptions of suicide of Palestinians. Case study 9 – Female suicide bombers in Palestine and Iraq. 8. Dar in Abu Eishe, a twenty-one year-old woman who blew herself up on 27 February 2002 in an operation for Women have only recently been involved in which the Al-Aqsa Martyrs Brigade claimed responsibi- suicide bombings in Palestine and Iraq, with lity, said in her personal statement: ‘the role of Palestinian women will no longer be confined to grieving the death of the first female suicide bombing in Palestin- their husbands, brothers or fathers; we will turn our bodies ian Territories in 2002. In general, women into human bombs and demolish the Israeli people’s illusion average 15% of suicide bombings7. Although of security’ (Larzillière 2017). their number is currently growing around the 9. According to Arin Ahmed, for example, who decided not to set off her bomb and was arrested in 2002: ‘I expected some training and questions about why I wanted to kill and die. Instead of which they told me I was going to join my 7. From 1980 to 2003, according to data from Robert Pape fiancé in paradise. An idea that even at that time I found (2005). This percentage is, however, cuurently increasing. completely stupid’ (Bennet 2002).

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 23/36 bombings (Brunner 2006; Rajan, 2012). cultural and religious groups and wider soci- As a consequence, political motives are set ety, as well as contend with the numerous aside, irrespective of what the women say in obstacles thrown in the path of their auto their statements, and the focus immediately nomy and activism within each of these three turns to motives of a more personal nature main spheres of life (Joly 2016). In addition, or the idea of escaping a life of patriarchal these women face accusations of disloyalty subordination. Evidence is sought to reveal sprung upon them both by their majority soci- a personal crisis: this woman was divorced; eties and their own communities. that one could not have children; another They perceive their ethnic groups, in which had been a victim of sexual violence and was they were first socialised, with ambivalence, defending her family’s honour, and so on. as sources of both restriction and support. This does not mean that such crises and situ- Although most value their closeness to the ations play no part in the decision to commit a immediate family, the extended family and suicide bombing, but personal situations and the community are considered restrictive, family crises are patently highlighted when with norms grounded in patriarchal tradi- the bombers are women and brushed aside tions. Consequently, the women contest any when they are men. Whatever the available authority claimed by the community, invar- data, this trend towards ‘gendered-cultural’ iably led by older men, that interferes with explanations can be widely observed in media their plans - whether to pursue education, coverage of suicide bombings. They point out undertake employment or become involved in that such actions appear doubly transgres- civic and political life. The patriarchal pattern sive when committed by women. In addition displayed by the ethnic community tends to to the transgression manifested by sacrificial be replicated in the Muslim sphere whereby violence, a gender-specific transgression is mosques and Muslim associations are domi- signalled, namely that women, usually seen nated by men who control power to the exclu- as victims or peacemakers in times of war, sion of women. Moreover, collusion can occur are playing the opposite role as perpetra- whereby elder men, leaders of ethnic or Mus- tors of political violence (Brunner 2006: 29; lim associations are treated as privileged Dauphin and Farge 1997; Larzillière 2017; interlocutors by governmental entities, thus Sjoberg and Gentry 2007). excluding women from policy making. Women in diasporic communities in Within majority society, the women are non-Muslim majority countries faced with the increased prejudice and con- Middle East and North African countries are straints inflicted on Muslims in the wake of not isolated and should not be portrayed as the September 2011 events in New York, such. Indeed, it is important not to consider the Afghanistan and Iraq wars and terror- them as independent cultural areas but to ist attacks in several countries. Therefore, take into account the wider context of their MENA women suffer from multiple disad- long relationship with western countries, in vantages, on racial and religious grounds, particular with regards to the history of vio- on gender grounds and in connection with lence and the social history of activism within specific stereotypes to which they are sub- MENA. As a case in point, gender-based rep- ject, portraying them as passive, submissive resentations are central to western hegemonic and uninterested in civic and political life. narratives regarding both the populations of Obstacles to their engagement have crys- MENA and diasporic communities. In Mus- tallised around two major themes in Britain lim minority contexts, that is in the diaspora, and France, respectively the securitisation of the situation of women of Middle Eastern Islam and that of national identity, while both background is fraught with discrimination, issues arise throughout the western world prejudice and hostility. Women from MENA with diverse emphases. The legislative and living in western countries belong to mino cultural counterpart to the ‘War on Terror’ in rity populations differentiated by their ethni Britain has been the onslaught on women’s city and religion. They have to steer through Islamic dress in France, with the full force the complex interconnections between their of the state being deployed. However, state

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 24/36 policy has also spurred Muslim women to to follow practices that obtained in their enter the public arena, for instance in Brit- countries of origin. A good number of women ain, through their participation in anti-war from such communities, especially those who campaigns and in France, their mobilisation are educated and have grown up in the UK, against the 2004 law which prohibited head- readily recognise the intersection between scarves in schools. the modes of socialisation in their countries of origin and the country they live in. The Within this adverse context, MENA women women comment on a certain kind of patri- have developed their capacity of action and archal model and its power relations which elaborated a repertoire of strategies to pur- subordinates women to men, in general, and sue their life projects and engage in civic and to elder men in particular through a complex political life. While not ignoring conventional hierarchy that ranks people according to their political channels (notoriously less accessible place in the immediate and extended family. to women in general), they favour civil associ- Women of Muslim background frequently ations as their main domain of action. MENA blame their community for many of the women tended to create their own Muslim constraints they face. They comment on the associations or ethnic based support groups community’s influence in highly concentrated outside men’s control, and they built or ethnic neighbourhoods and strongly object to joined neighbourhood and locally based asso- the community’s interference in decisions ciations. The 21st century has witnessed the that affect their lives (Joly 2016b). Moreover, multiplication of a great variety of such asso- the women are aware not only of the obsta- ciations. These organisations provide social cles to their autonomy within their immediate welfare, legal and other services, according social environment but also of the role of Brit- to their members’/clients’ needs. Thereby, ish politicians who often reinforce patriarchal the women express a keen interest in attend- modes in order to secure ethnic communi- ing to diverse social issues on a national or ties’ votes. Such a collusion is predicated on international scale: gender inequality, ethnic/ western prejudices regarding Muslim women racial discrimination and Islamophobia, pov- who find themselves caught up between erty, social inequality and human rights. For community domination and wider society’s those who are believers, Islam represents a orientalist tendencies, confining them to powerful motivator of engagement, linking the home and child care rather than facili- politics and ethics. It is held up as a source tating their participation in the public arena. of values, an ethical guide for the conduct of Meanwhile, the prominence of Islam in the their actions over and above traditional eth- public realm has led Muslim women to exam- nic norms and provides many of the women ine religious practice within the community concerned with responses to demands for loy- and apprehend the closely enmeshed cultural alty from both their ethnic groups and major- and religious dimensions involved. Conse- ity society10. quently, they must overcome myriad barriers Case study 10 – Negotiations in the family/ in order to further their aspirations to engage community in the diaspora in Britain in civic and political initiatives. These women A large population of Muslim background demonstrate dynamism and creativity as settled in the UK after World War II, mostly they chart out an assortment of strategies in from the Indian subcontinent and those complex combinations to achieve their goals immigrants were subsequently joined by of more extensive participation in the public populations from MENA. Their mode of arena and engagement in civic and political social organisation has taken the form of initiatives. Their strategies include confron- ethnic groups within a multicultural frame- tation and radical breaks with family and/or work and, to an extent, they have continued community (although this is not widespread) alongside cooperation with the full approval of the family, for example in the pursuit of 10. Data drawn from a large ESRC research project (award higher studies. The most frequent option is reference: RES-062-23-0380), led by Danièle Joly and Khursheed Wadia. See the publication arising from the compromise that allows women to gain some project: Danièle Joly and Khursheed Wadia (2017) Muslim autonomy without necessarily breaking with women and power London: Palgrave MacMillan.

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 25/36 their family or community: thus some women demonstrations and/or secretaries of local may agree to take on the entire responsibility branches. In this instance, some sectors of the home, the care of children and perhaps of British society acted against gender and parents-in-law as a ticket to their outside ethnic stereotypes, according Muslim women involvement. Women may adopt a lateral a place in a movement where Muslim men strategy, circumventing obstacles without would normally have been expected to domi- losing sight of objectives; this could mean nate. It is worth mentioning that Stop the postponing an arranged marriage in order War (and the British Marxist left active in to buy time to consolidate their bargaining this movement) extended its full support to power through studying and gaining employ- Muslims and their claims on the grounds that ment. Within the community, women may they were at the receiving end of discrimina- form or join women’s associations rather than tion in British society: such a position facil- attempting to wrench the control of mosques itated the participation of Muslim women, and ethnic associations from male leaders. including hijab wearing women. The 7/7 Some women wishing to challenge ethnic suicide bombs in London’s trains and bus traditions often denounce them in the name further contributed to the expansion of of Islam to which all Muslim communities Muslim women’s participation in the public purportedly adhere: they then quote sacred domain. Politicians so far had not shown an texts in order to claim the right to choose interest in reaching out to Muslim women, their husbands, pursue their studies, earn a probably on account of western prejudices living or participate in the public arena. This about the passivity of Muslim women and reversal strategy turns the tables against the their presumed disinterest in politics. The system from within. In short, women choose 7/7 events were a wake-up call, confront- modes of negotiation according to their eval- ing British society and the polity with urgent uation of the strategy most likely to succeed demands for a response. The fresh involve- with the least emotional and/or material cost. ment of Muslim women in political activism prompted the government to develop poli- Case study 11 – Mobilisation of women from cies designed to harness Muslim women’s Muslim communities in the UK and in France participation in the fight against terrorism, on The UK military intervention in Iraq the assumption that they could constitute a The 11th September 2001 (9/11) events in moderate, peaceful element in their commu- New York and the 7 July 2005 (7/7) suicide nities. A number of Muslim women were bombs in the London transportation system invited to consultation forums, and funding spread fear among Muslim communities in was awarded to their associations through the UK and generated enhanced suspicion the Prevent Programme which, although very and hostility towards Muslims. They also controversial, boosted Muslim women’s asso- produced unexpected consequences in terms ciations. This enabled a number of Muslim of Muslim women’s opportunities to partic- women’s organisations to take their projects ipate in the public arena. Muslim commu- forward with an exponential development of nities’ leaders, mostly older men who were activism among Muslim women, alongside accredited government interlocutors, kept the multiplication of their associations. As a a low profile and initially failed to protest result, the British government’s ‘War on Terror’ against Britain’s military involvement in and its military intervention in Iraq along- Afghanistan and Iraq. Muslim women, hith- side the USA elicited an upsurge of mobili- erto kept back by most community leaders, sation among women of Muslim background thus found a window of opportunity to engage and encouraged their active participation in political action through the Stop the War to challenge violence at home and abroad. Coalition (Stop the War). They seized upon Dress code restrictions in France this opening, motivated by a heightened In France, the 9/11 events were super- sense of outrage at what they considered an seded by the debate over women’s Islamic unjust war. A young Muslim woman rapidly dress, placing women of Muslim background rose to lead Stop the War, and many more on the frontlines of anti-Islam legislation. followed as active members, participants in

Since 2002, right-wing politicians were set resulted into a great deal of arbitrary nega- on a course to seduce voters away from the tive decisions on the parts of school heads Front National, largely on an anti-Muslim and generated the mobilisation of mothers’ ticket; right wing parties followed suite, and groups, one of which won a significant court left-wing politicians broadly failed to chal- case restoring their rights (Kassir and Reitz lenge this agenda. The legislative parallel to 2016). Those movements assembled a good the ‘War on terror’ in the UK has been the number of women of Muslim background, onslaught against Muslim women’s dress bringing together believers and non-believers code in France in the name of laïcité. Many to defend the right of all women to partici- women from Muslim communities denounce pate in education and in public institutions. the ideology that underpins a reinterpreted laïcité and its instrumentalisation by poli- Transnational perspectives ticians. Moreover, those women find that MENA countries are not isolated and should displaying visible markers of their faith not be portrayed as such. Indeed, it is impor- precludes or hinders their engagement in tant not to consider them as independent public institutions. The legislative apparatus cultural regions but to take into account the banned the headscarf in schools in 2004 and wider context of their long relationship with from the entire public employment sector in western countries. This is especially true 2007 (thus barring women who wear head- with regard to the history of violence and the scarves from 30% of the employment sector). social history of activism within MENA. One In 2010, a law forbidding face concealment dimension of this relationship concerns dias- in all public spaces including the streets was poric communities whose situation is increas- put in place at the same time as the launch- ingly perceived by host countries solely ing of a national identity official debate through the prism of securitisation. Transna- designed to exclude Muslims (Joly 2017b). tional and global perspectives are especially These legislative and societal moves have important for a gendered approach since had a significant impact on Muslim women’s gender-based representations are central capacity of action. Although the full range to western hegemonic narratives about the of potential participatory opportunities is populations of MENA countries and dias- formally open (if not always in practice on poric communities. The circulation of these account of multiple discrimination) to women narratives is part of the context surrounding who do not choose to wear distinctive signs the activists. One counterpart to this kind of their faith, a good number of participa- of hegemonic transnationalism has been tory avenues are closed to those who deem the development of transnational feminist it important to wear a hijab. Their predica- solidarity and activism as well as the evolu- ment has been compounded by the fact that tion of international law concerning women a majority of the feminist movement supports and violence generated by this solidarity. those dress code restrictions. Although some women of Muslim background adopt a secu- Transnational women’s activism to end violence lar/laïc outlook, the 2004 Law banning the There is a long history of women’s activism headscarf at school fostered widespread against war and violence, including solidarity mobilisation among women from Muslim with women in conflict zones. A very impor- communities, such as the Collectif Une tant international women’s movement is the école pour tous-tes, campaigning against the Women’s International League for Peace and banning of the hijab at school which staged Freedom (WILFP), which has campaigned various forms of protests and demonstrations. against war and militarism since the First This movement stood on an anti-discrimina- World War. This movement brings a specific tion platform and in the name of freedom gender dimension to transnational solidar- of choice for the preservation of democratic ity, promoting women’s rights and women’s freedom. In some schools, mothers who wore voices as part of calls for peace. In recent a headscarf were not allowed to accompany years, WILFP has worked with Syrian women their children on school outings on account to lobby for their inclusion in peace talks. of the 2012 Luc Chatel Circulaire. This

Yet, transnational feminist solidarity with public discourse for the first time. However, women in MENA has had a troubled history. in so doing, they have had to navigate In the colonial era, European and North between western discourses that characterise American feminists failed to stand in solidar- violence against women in the Middle East as ity with women resisting colonialism and took a marker of backwardness, on the one hand a patronising attitude towards women living (Abu-Lughod 2013) and, on the other hand, in the Middle East, Asia, Africa and Latin local discourses that seek to deny or minimise America. During the Cold War, the interna- the problem, or even justify it in the name tional women’s movement was divided along of protecting national sovereignty. Western East-West and North-South lines. Western feminist discourses have often undermined, feminists emphasised issues of women’s rather than supported, MENA women’s activ- legal equality, whereas the USSR promoted ism in this regard by reproducing a cultur- a ‘peace’ agenda, prioritising women’s strug- alist discourse that blames violence against gle against imperialism and capitalism, women in the Middle East solely as a prod- perceived as the main causes of women’s uct of religion and culture (Mohanty 1991). oppression. The Soviet agenda resonated Activism and international law: United with women in the Global South, includ- Nations Security Council resolutions ing women’s movements in MENA, many of which were still struggling against Euro- Women rights’ activism and movements pean colonialism or neo-colonialism and worldwide have pressured the UN into adopt- economic dependency. Indeed, women’s ing resolutions on women and violence with conferences during the Cold War witnessed some success. United Nations Security sharp divisions between western feminists, Council Resolution (UNSCR) 1325 was the who resisted what they regarded as the ‘polit- first United Nations resolution to mention icisation’ of women’s issues, and women in women, the first Security Council legal docu- the Global South, who believed that western ment requiring parties in conflict to prevent feminists were trying to universalise their and avoid gender-based violence against concerns around legal equality and sexual women, express support for women’s partic- politics and, in so doing, were ignoring the ipation in peace negotiations, respect local very important issues of economic inequal- women’s peace initiatives, and consider the ity and imperialism faced by women in the needs of women refugees. WILFP, that had Global South. In particular, the U.S. and lobbied for years for such a resolution, and its allies resisted discussion of the question other women’s organisations hailed this reso- of Palestine and the role of Israel in perpe- lution for inserting discussion of women on trating violence against Palestinian women the Security Council agenda. Others, on the (Ghodsee 2010; Moghadam 2005: 85). other hand, justly criticised the resolution for essentialising women and for failing to recog- Since the end of the Cold War, the western nise women’s victimisation as a tool of war feminist agenda has become hegemonic, as tied to wider forms of exclusion and violence illustrated by the Beijing UN Women’s Confer- (Pratt 2013; Pratt and Richter-Devroe, 2011, ence in 1995. Nonetheless, Beijing and 2013). other UN conferences have provided important opportunities for women in MENA to join A review of UNSCR 1325’s implementation transnational networks seeking to promote record was conducted in 2015 at the request women’s rights, primarily through the frame- of the Security Council and the Secretary work of the Convention on the Elimination of General. Among the problems noted in this All Forms of Discrimination against Women review is the lack of a legal instrument to (CEDAW) (Moghadam 2005). Much of trans- prosecute peacekeeping forces or others national women’s activism has been dedi- accused of sexual crimes against women cated to ending violence against women in (Coomaraswamy 2015:14–15). In response its different manifestations. In MENA, many to criticism, UNSCR 242 was adopted to women’s organisations took up this issue improve implementation and increase the (discussed in some of the previous case stud- allocation of peace-building funds devoted ies), bringing violence against women into to gender equality projects. Despite 242 and

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 28/36 subsequent resolutions, however, the Secu- that an international organisation has taken rity Council remains selective in the inclusion a moral stance on behalf of victims has been of women. For example, women are less likely empowering (Adra 2013b and interviews with to be mentioned in resolutions that involve activists 2013–2018). Saudi Arabia. Peace negotiations on the Transnational solidarity remains flawed, current conflict in Yemen have not included however, insofar as it is largely limited to the active engagement of women who would western INGOs providing funding to a selec- have spoken for themselves. Women who have tion of national NGOs in MENA and other been incorporated represent political parties, countries of the Global South for programmes and they have not been permitted to nego- and projects that fulfil international geopolit- tiate together in the same room with men. ical agendas but do not necessarily support NGOs have not failed to indict ‘International local needs. Moreover, western INGOs, who actors and regional governments [are] failing are often dependent upon their respective to follow through on gender equality and on governments’ funding, limit their solidarity to embedding the principles of resolution 1325 gender-specific issues and, unlike the anti- in humanitarian response paradigms’ (Oxfam war movement or WILPF are often reluctant 2017:89). Another problem is that UN Secu- to criticise wider structural causes of war and rity Council resolutions are not legally bind- violence, which may be linked to their own ing, which severely reduces their effective- governments’ foreign policies. More recently, ness in implementing change (Hafner-Burton there have been more grassroots initia- et al. 2015). tives, such as the One Billion Rising move- On the other hand, the UN review noted ment against sexual violence, in which some several perceived successes, including ‘the women in MENA have participated. adoption of a comprehensive normative Women in Muslim majority countries framework with regard to sexual violence in conflict’, a better understanding of the Women in Muslim contexts have engaged importance of national and communal heal- in transnational feminist activism (Balchin ing post conflict, more mention of women in 2012) and challenged stereotypes related to peace agreements, and a greater number of the engagement of women in Muslim commu- senior women leaders in the United Nations nities. For example, Women Living Under (Coomaraswamy 2015:13–14). Propo- Muslim Laws (WLUML) is an international nents add that the resolutions’ language has solidarity network founded in the mid-1980s provided tools for INGOs and women’s organ- by women activists and linking women across isations to pressure governments to address 70 countries from South Africa to Uzbek- and support issues pertaining to women’s istan, Senegal to Fiji (Shaheed 1994). security and human rights. Some 69 coun- Another group, Musawah, is a transnational tries have developed National Action Plans to movement for equality and justice in Muslim implement UNSCR 1325. Many argue that families, formally launched in 2009 in Kuala more women have been included in peace Lumpur, Malaysia, with over 270 participants negotiations since the resolution’s ratifica- from 47 countries. It campaigns for equality tion. Even lacking legal ‘teeth’, women’s between men and women in the family and organisations can leverage a ‘shame’ factor for equal and fully-fledged citizenship rights, in lobbying national actors and political including total participation in all aspects parties for women’s representation in peace of social life (Musawah 2009). Both initia- building. The resolutions insert an element tives have scored a fair amount of success of fear in governing bodies that would prefer through their mobilisation (Balchin 2012). not to come under scrutiny in case a problem Many other examples of women’s activism or situation within their jurisdiction receives can be cited. In Iraqi Kurdistan, women media attention. For instance, although have achieved progress in the promotion of Yemeni activists interviewed complain bitterly their rights and obtained the promulgation that UNSCR 1325 cannot be enforced, they of ‘The Act of Combatting Domestic Violence see the resolution as providing standards for in Kurdistan Region-Iraq’ (Act No 8 2011) local leaders to emulate. For them, knowing (Al Ali and Pratt 2011, Joly and Bakawan

2016, Hardi 2013). In Tunisia, women four types: women who hold a philosophical/ have mobilised to revise the law on violence ideological stance opposed to religion, such against women (Ben Achour 2016). In Israel, as atheists or Marxists; women whose main women actively take part in the peace move- objections to religion relate to gender equal- ment. Following a different scenario, Kurdish ity as they deem that Islam intrinsically allo- women in Syria contribute to the development cates women an inferior, dominated position; of the societal project to combat the threat of women who declare themselves ‘political’ massacre and enslavement by the so-called Muslims against discrimination and Islamo- Islamic State: they are dynamic partici- phobia; and finally, women who are not reli- pants in the political arena, regularly hold- gious but wish to be recognised as ‘cultural’ ing positions of leadership, and some have Muslims. The latter reclaim Islam as cultural joined the armed struggle on a par with men. heritage and display a secularised relationship to their religion. This whole tranche of Diasporic communities: Relationship to Muslim women is active in a variety of initi- Islam and activism atives across wider society and sometimes in In the diaspora, women’s activism encom- their respective ethnic groups but they are passes a wide range of causes straddling likely to remain unconnected to any religious borders and territories in connection with reference except when they oppose Islam or their family’s countries of origin or to the defend Muslims against religious discrimi- MENA region and beyond. They focus on nation. Their involvement tends to focus on issues of social justice and human rights issues of social justice and on gender-related and combat discrimination based on ethnic, questions. class, national, religious and gender crite- Women who are religious widely quote Islam ria, among others. The tensions surround- as an ethical guide and inspiration for action ing Islam and Muslim communities warrant while offering differentiated profiles. One an examination of women’s relationships to group of women follows religion in an indi- Islam within their communities, which do not vidualised manner, their Islam being based necessarily correspond to those obtaining in on a personal relationship with God, some Muslim majority countries. As members of of them pursuing a personal spiritual quest Muslim minority communities, those women while developing research into their reli- are subject to the widespread discrimination gion. This group includes women from differ- affecting Muslims, prejudices and hostility ent branches and schools of Islam who may against Islam and accusations of disloyalty participate in wider society’s initiatives and levelled at them both by majority societies also join or create Muslim women’s study and their own communities. Women’s rela- groups. Two other groups of believers search tionship to Islam is relevant when examining for authenticity and proceed to criticise their activism because it largely informs their Islam from within, from an Islamic viewpoint: modes, themes and sites of engagement in one set of women opposes comprehensive civic and political arenas, whether they are prescriptions and technical instructions from believers or not. These women, from a vari- political reformist branches of Islam while ety of countries of origin, display a complex the other aims to divest Islam of ethnic tradi- relationship with Islam and a good number tions, both seeking alternative insights to the of similarities across Europe as testified by prevalent Islamist agenda which they do not recent research (Joly and Wadia 2017). hesitate to defy because they perceive it as In the first place, these women denounce interpreted by men and for men. As many of Jihadist and terrorist acts. Barring very rare those women assess political reformist Islam exceptions, non-believers and believers alike as an instrument of control over people, voice total condemnation of terrorism. Moreo- women taking the brunt of most constraints, ver, believers tend to emphasise that terrorist only few engage with Islamist movements. acts transgress the letter and spirit of Islam. A Others who establish a distinction between diversified set of positions can be discerned. A what they call ‘cultural’ or ‘traditional’ Islam number of women reject or simply discard reli- and the Islam they embrace, cast off an Islam gious identification. This category comprises which in their view is steeped with customs

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 30/36 dressed up as religious injunctions with the Conclusion: Exiting from violence, purpose of better controlling women. They a holistic gendered approach espouse an Islam they deem ‘genuine’, disso- ciated from ethnic traditions and thus gener- This chapter argues that a holistic gendered ally avoid participation in Muslim community approach is necessary to analyse both violence institutions dominated by tradition and patri- and exiting from violence as parts of a contin- archy. Hence, Islam is seized as a lever of uum of violence straddling all spheres of social emancipation since they deem that religious life. This continuum includes transnational values hold a higher moral ground than tradi- and intersectional dimensions. It is important tional norms and the women call upon sacred to reiterate that overcoming violence relies texts against forced marriages, polygamy, on addressing issues of inequality across the excision, the separation of sexes in public board, including socioeconomic inequality arenas or quote them to defend the right to based on gender, class, race, ethnicity and/or education and the control of their earnings. religion as well as guaranteeing human rights One objective pursued by these women is for all, regardless of gender, sexual orien- to overcome community constraints so that tation, race, nationality, religion and class. they can participate in the public arena and As our report illustrates, for women, exiting in civic and political projects. This critical from violence cannot simply be equated with position also enables them to maintain links ending armed conflict but needs to address with their families and origins while distanc- specific gender-based violence as well as ing themselves from oppressive traditions, underlying structural forms of violence and some of these women finding in Islam a solu- injustice. It means redressing both gender tion to the complex negotiation between their inequality and marginalisation and other countries of origin and their participation in forms of exclusion during and outside conflict. their western society. For these women, Islam Militarisation, often rooted in poverty, unem- seems to provide a response to an identity ployment and the unequal distribution of and a loyalty dilemma, a response that over- resources, negatively impacts women as comes the ‘hostage’ position discussed above well as men. Violent conflict directly affects (Lamrabet 2012). women’s security, livelihoods and capaci- A good number of women prioritise the ethi- ties to care for their families. Militarisation cal message in Islam and many emphasise also justifies male violence in all its forms its humanist vocation through a double ethi- within and outside the home. It reinforces cal and universalist aspiration. In the main, and legitimises the identification of men and religious women hold Islam as a source of strength with violence, demeaning nonviolent values and an ethical guide for the conduct men and women and subverting norms that of their actions, which play a significant role might otherwise protect women and children. in the meaning of their engagement and the Women compose broadly 50% of the popu- themes pursued. This engagement may be lations in all societies, a cogent reason to exercised in wider society and/or within the include women’s participation at all levels of Muslim arena according to the opportunities peace building. It is also argued that women available, which are conditioned respectively often provide alternative perspectives to men’s by the legislative framework or male commu- due to differences in gender roles. Women’s nity control. These women’s activism encom- networks are important resources to inform passes a wide range of causes that straddles on and deal with social relations, community borders and territories with regard to their tensions, sources of extremism as well as the countries of residence and/or to MENA and flow of small arms and light weapons (Shakir beyond. 2015:26). These networks can be crucial to the success of efforts to exit from violence. Women activists are important contributors to exiting from violence. Women’s activism takes place in a variety of geographical arenas that interact and cross-fertilise, including a

Fondation Maison des sciences de l’homme - 54 boulevard Raspail - 75006 Paris - France http://www.fmsh.fr - FMSH-WP-2020-143, mars 2020 Women, violence and exiting from violence with a gendered approach: MENA region and diaspora 31/36 transnational framework of women in MENA and among Muslim and Middle Eastern women in diaspora who challenge diverse structures of domination and inequalities and work towards ensuring social justice. Consequently, strategies for exiting from violence require a reconceptualisation of both violence and peace from a gendered perspective. They involve the recognition, support and inclusion of women’s activism, organisations and initiatives. Despite these persuasive arguments, women are not often represented in national or local peacekeeping efforts. This means that it is important to advocate for the meaningful involvement of women at all levels of peace building including regional, national and international negotiations as well as local mediation.

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Lourdes Amigo Vázquez, Villes Laura Fortin, La trame sous contrôle. Parlements fran- d’une anthropologie textile. çais, chancelleries espagnoles Soixante-quinze ans d’évolu- et ordre public à l’époque tion de l’artisanat textile fémi- moderne : une étude compa- nin au Burkina Faso (1912 – rative, FMSH-WP-2018-134, 1987), FMSH-WP-2019-141, mars 2018. mars 2019. Magdalena Bieniak, Com- Emmanuelle Laurent, Le rite ment étudier les Commen- de passage des 36 et 49 ans taires pauliniens d’Étienne des hommes naxi – relations Langton ? L’origine et l’histoire de parenté et origines plu- de la transmission du Com- rielles impliquées (Yunnan, mentaire de Langton à l’Épître Chine), FMSH-WP-2019-142, de Saint Paul aux Romains, juin 2019. FMSH-WP-2018-135, mars 2018. Guilhem Fabre, China’s digi- tal transformation. Why is artificial intelligence a prio- rity for chinese R&D?, FMSH- WP-2018-136, juin 2018. Philippe Steiner, Les socio- logies relationnelles contem- poraines : Notes à partir de Robinson Crusoé, FMSH- WP-2018-137, novembre 2018. Thomas Laux, The cultural logics in the field of scientific policy advice in France. Ana- lyzing the justifications in the organizational identity of think tanks, FMSH-WP-2018-139, décembre 2018. Sebastian J. Moser & Tobias Schlechtriemen, Social Figures - Between societal experience and socio- logical diagnosis, FMSH- WP-2018-140, décembre 2018.

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